Welcome back OnScript listeners. It's good to be back together with you. I'm Matt Lynch, one of the co-hosts of Onscript. I'm based in the UK at Westminster Theological Center. Today, I'm going to be talking with our guest about the subject of family violence in Deuteronomy, specifically on laws that admonish

the people of God to stone sons and daughters. This is really harsh stuff, and there's no easy

pathway through it. But two brief observations before we begin. First, our guest today takes

an approach that I appreciate, and that is an attempt to try to understand the cultural

logic of biblical texts before rushing into judgment. And this isn't to say that, oh, if we

just understand the culture, then stoning a son or daughter will be fine then. But the idea is

that there is a certain logic to it. Like,

it made sense in the ancient world. And so it at least behooves us as interpreters to try to

understand what that cultural logic was. There's also a literary question, like what is it in

Deuteronomy that this book is trying to accomplish through such harsh laws. Second, in addition to

understanding the cultural logic of violence, it's important to consider the ways that the

ongoing biblical tradition itself, and this includes within the Old Testament, tempers,

reframes, and even contests such laws. So for some of the conversation today, we

focus on trying to get inside the culture and world of the ancient writers, where such laws

would potentially have made some sense. But we also look at how we just can't stop at. Well,

Deuteronomy says that settles it. We have to push beyond that.

The subject of religiously motivated violence is immensely important today, and so we're thrilled

to bring you this episode. Also, if you feel it in your heart to support the podcast, even if it's

just at $2 a month, we would be very, very grateful to you

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